Saving Borneo's rare proboscis monkey with palm oil cash
And as the forest shrinks, so does the habitat for wildlife.
But tourism could prove a lifeline for rare animals, as more and more travellers come to experience the natural environment.
A biodiversity hotspot, the island is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Reporter: Jared Ferrie
Speakers: Siew Te Wong, conservationist; Jonathan Scobido, sanctuary guide
FERRIE: It's lunch time for rare proboscis monkeys at this sanctuary on the east coast of Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. The monkeys started arriving well before workers dumped piles of fruit onto feeding platforms. They came out of the mangrove forest, jumping from tree to tree until they were within arms length of a handful of delighted tourists. The large males with their distinctive large, floppy noses were especially attractive to the camera-toting travellers.
According to Jonathan Scobido, a guide here, those tourists are the key to keeping this sanctuary running.
SCOBIDO: The entrance fee, yes, it used for maintenance, for the food for the monkey, to pay the salary for the staff. So it means if you come here and then you buy the ticket, so it means you are involved in conservation.
FERRIE:Jonathan said he used to work in a plastics factory and had little knowledge about conservation before he was hired as a guide at the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.
Unlike most efforts to save Borneo's wildlife, this sanctuary gets no support from the government or conservation organisations. Instead, it was started by a man who represents one of the biggest threats to the proboscis monkey's survival - Michael Lee is a palm oil magnate and this small patch of preserved mangrove forest is hemmed in by his plantations.
SCOBIDO: This is a private conservation. It belongs to a plantation owner. Seventeen years ago, actually he want to plant the palm oil here, but when he saw there was a lot of proboscis monkey here then he decide to reserve five hundred acres for conservation to protect the proboscis monkey.
FERRIE: Proboscis monkeys are great swimmers and they live near the ocean in mangrove forests like this, or inland along rivers. They are only found on Borneo and their habitat has shrunk drastically due to logging and the rapid growth of the palm oil plantations.
In creating this sanctuary, Michael Lee has shown an interest in conservation that is uncharacteristic of most in the palm oil industry. But even this step isn't without its flaws, according to Siew Te Wong, a leading conservationist who warns of the danger of keeping one group in an isolated patch of forest.
WONG: If it is an island, an isolated population, the proboscis monkey will not sustain, because they will go into this inbreeding problems and sooner or later, well, will slowly die from defects and all these things that resulted from inbreeding. And also, of there is a particular disease coming in it can also wipe out that particular population.
FERRIE: Of course, proboscis monkeys aren't the only ones at risk in Borneo. Wong started the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre to protect another endangered species. His centre, which opened just three months ago, is a short walk from a sanctuary for Orangutans. Those animals and many others have lost most of their habitats to logging and palm oil. Today, only three percent of Borneo's virgin rainforest remains.
Wong says there is no point in fighting against industry, because once the forest has been destroyed its almost impossible to recreate such a fragile ecosystem. So the best strategy is to work alongside industry to protect what's left.
WONG: For the palm oil industry, they should support our conservation work because this conservation work mitigates the damage. And then they should work with conservation NGOs, community, to come up with a win-win situation that benefit both.
FERRIE: Tourism plays an increasingly important role in conservation, says Wong. The state tourism minister recently announced that revenues from tourism had outstripped logging.
WONG: Money talks, you know. If we can show the authority that, hey tourism actually generates revenues, and the tourist is here to see the wildlife, is here to experience the rainforest, we can generate revenues without logging the forest, without convert the forest into plantation. We can - if our ultimate goal is generate revenues. If we manage it wisely and the tourists keep on pouring in, there you go.
FERRIE:Conservation work has a long way to go in Borneo, and tourism revenues may not be enough to stop the destruction of the forests. Logging and palm oil continue to claim the homes of more and more species. But the 90 or so proboscis monkeys at this sanctuary surrounded by palm oil plantations are safe - at least for now.
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